Allen said his brother eventually let him be, but then started arguing with their sister. Lamont Williams was arguing over who fathered his twin sister, Larae Williams' 23-month-old son, Allen said. The 10-year-old said he was trying to go to sleep when his brother was talking incoherently upstairs, while his sister was on the couch downstairs. "Mostly he was arguing," Allen said. The boy remembers his sister asking Lamont Williams, "What is wrong with you?"

Larae Williams eventually came upstairs with her son, Adahrion Linen, and went to bed. As Larae Williams slept in the same bed as Linen, Allen and her mother, Laurice Allen, Lamont Williams walked into the room. Zyel Allen said he never heard Lamont Williams walk in, but he heard what happened next.

"It sounded like a firecracker," Allen said, describing the gunshot that tore into the left side of his sister's face.

When Allen opened his eyes, he saw his sister had been shot. His brother put on sweatpants and grabbed a pellet gun that had not been used in the shooting and placed it on the porch. Allen said he thought maybe his brother put the pellet gun there to make someone think that was the weapon used, but he said it was not. Police confirmed Monday they have recovered the handgun used to shoot Larae Williams.

But before Lamont Williams left the house, he turned to Allen and said, "Don't tell nobody."

Allen said he woke up his mother and called 911.

Syracuse police responded to the shooting at 143 N. Midler Ave. in the city's Eastwood neighborhood around 4:30 a.m. Saturday.

Larae Williams, 21, was rushed to Upstate University Hospital, where she underwent two surgeries, said Ricardo Linen, the father of Larae Williams' son. Williams was in serious condition Sunday night at the hospital, a nursing supervisor said.

When Linen saw Williams at the hospital Sunday morning, she had one eye open and waved to him, he said. "She's responding," Linen said. However, he did not know whether Williams will lose sight in her left eye. Doctors removed bullet fragments from the left side of her head and are now letting the swelling go down, Linen said.

Syracuse police searched the house and talked to relatives, trying to piece together what happened. Around 2 p.m. Saturday, police spotted Lamont Williams walking on the street and took him into custody. Williams was charged with first-degree assault and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, both felonies.

Lamont Williams is expected to be arraigned on the charges Monday morning in Syracuse City Court.

Ricardo Linen said Larae and Lamont Williams were "really close." He remembers Lamont Williams visiting Larae and her son. But recently Larae Williams had noticed her brother's behavior change. "She said he wasn't himself lately," Linen said. "She said he was acting weird and strange." Lamont Williams told family members and others, including Linen, that he took drugs described as embalming fluid, Linen said.

Lamont Williams graduated from Henninger High School. Larae Williams left school in the ninth grade, but was currently taking classes to get her GED, Linen said.

Friday evening, Larae Williams told Linen how excited she was to take classes to become a certified nursing assistant, he said. "She was going to be guaranteed a job," Linen said. "She was so happy about that."

Larae Williams also was looking forward to finding a new apartment, Linen said. She had moved out of a one-bedroom apartment on South Salina Street because it was getting too small for her and her son.

Two weeks ago, Williams and her son moved to a two-bedroom apartment on Catherine Street, but they were bitten by bed bugs and moved out after one night, Linen said. They stayed at Linen's home for a week, but Linen said he wasn't home much because he's taking classes at Onondaga Community College and working at the Rescue Mission. Williams then decided to move in with her mother.

Laurice Allen's fiance, William Burke, said Larae Williams is a good person. Linen said she's also a good mother. "She made sure my son had everything; she made sure he had the world," Linen said. "She was always with him."

Larae Williams is expected to survive, but Linen said he's not sure how to explain what happened to their almost 2-year-old son while Williams is in the hospital recovering.